WHILE it's true that you should never judge a book by its cover, there are certain footballers earning a handsome living in this country whom I don't like the look of, even though I don't know them.

There are one or two who feature regularly on the news pages of our downmarket newspapers that I'm sure any parent would not want their daughter stepping out with.

But on the flip side there's a player like Michael Owen.

Now he's a different kettle of fish altogether. He would be welcome at Hince Mansions for a famous salad butty and a glass of Davenport's Beer at Home any time he pleases.

He's so clean-cut, isn't he? Polite, well-mannered, nicely-spoken. A real credit to professional football and to his mum and dad. Pity none of my three daughters bumped into him when they were on the lookout for partners. He could have kept me in my dotage in the style which I've always longed to be accustomed.

So I genuinely hope that this thoroughly nice and decent young man finds everything he's looking for from his career in football following his switch from Real Madrid to Newcastle United. But the pessimist inside me which raises its head from time to time keeps whispering that Owen may just have made a ghastly mistake in taking his talents to St James's Park.

Heart

Owen's first blunder when he decided to head home was to reveal that his heart was set on rejoining Liverpool. Sometimes you can be TOO honest for your own good - and this was one of those times.

Whether they support Chelsea or Cheltenham, fans don't like thinking that their club was second choice when a new player arrives, particularly when that player has cost their club a great deal of money.

That seed of doubt has already been planted into the minds of the Magpies fans by Owen himself. Would he be here if Liverpool had really wanted him? That's what those Newcastle fans will be thinking right now. Owen has made a rod for his own back before his new career has even started.

Of course those doubts and suspicions will subside if Owen hits the ground running and bangs in successive hat-tricks in his opening three Premiership matches. But hey, this is Newcastle we're talking about. They've forgotten what a goal looks like up there. Owen might be a proven marksman but he's not a miracle worker.

What became clear during the hours leading up to the conclusion of Owen's transfer was that Alan Shearer was highly influential in the England striker's decision.

Influential was hardly the word for it. Shearer these days looks more like the Newcastle manager than the Newcastle manager. The friendship between Owen and Shearer stretches back to their days together as England's two principal strikers in the 90s.

Friendship

In my book, that was mistake number two by Owen. Friendship is always a poor reason to join a football club.

Owen, no doubt, dreams of rekindling that partnership up-front with Shearer for Newcastle which produced so many goals for England. That's what it is, a dream.

For the Shearer who Owen will play alongside for the Magpies this season is very different to the Shearer he played alongside in their England days.

Shearer, in my opinion, should have obeyed his gut instinct and hung up his boots at the end of last season.

He now looks to me as though he's playing from memory. His legs no longer respond to his brain's commands.

The most effective strikers hunt in pairs but that theory falls flat on its face when the pair in question are the equivalent of the tortoise and the hare. And the pairing of jet-propelled Owen and pedestrian Shearer looks to me to be fatally flawed.

And, with Owen's future well-being in mind, I've got a sinking feeling that his third, and biggest, mistake is in thinking that he can achieve his career ambitions as a Newcastle United player.

Greeted

If you can,cast your mind back to Shearer's reception when he arrived at St.James's Park back in 1996. Identical in almost every way to the manner in which Owen was greeted by the Newcastle hordes when he arrived by helicopter a couple of days ago.

In 1996 it was Shearer who was hailed as the new Messiah. The player who was going to lead Newcastle United back into the Promised Land.

And now another new Messiah has arrived in the shape of Michael Owen. The same expectations all over again on Tyneside. And, unless I'm very much mistaken, exactly the same outcome.

Newcastle are the Premiership's great under-achievers. And it will take more than one top-class striker to change a 30-year habit. Shearer couldn't do it in 1996 and Owen won't do it in 2006.

Owen's stated reason for leaving Liverpool to join Real Madrid was to win trophies and in all sincerity I wish Owen every success in his new career.

But here goes that pessimist in me raising its ugly head again.

Goals? There will be plenty of them because that's what Owen is good at. But trophies? What, with this Newcastle team?

Yes, the Magpies will be buried under silverware now that they've got another Messiah - and a pig has just flown past the kitchen window.